Transgender bathroom bill lacks votes to move

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Legislation to forbid transgender students from using school bathrooms opposite to their biological sex halted in the Kentucky legislature on Thursday after critics said it would only encourage more bullying and harassment.

The measure, backed by the conservative Family Foundation of Kentucky, sought to counter a recent decision at Atherton High School in Louisville that allowed a transgender student who was born male to use the girls' bathroom and locker rooms.

But with two GOP senators absent — apparently because of bad weather — the bill fell one vote short of advancing out of the Senate Education Committee. Supporters say it's not clear if they will try to revive the measure this session.

"I'm so happy it failed because if it didn't, this would really open many transgender students up to a lot of discomfort in schools and animosity in schools," said Henry Brousseau, a transgender junior at Louisville Collegiate who testified against the bill.

The legislation would have allowed transgender students to request special accommodations, including use of a faculty, single-stall or unisex bathroom. Another provision would have let students sue schools for $2,500 if they encountered someone violating the policy, but it was stripped out before committee members voted.

Proponents said the law is needed to protect the safety of transgender students and privacy rights overall. They argued that the bill would prevent student harassment by creating accommodations for everyone and stave off parent lawsuits against Atherton.

"Schools are going to have to deal with this in some way," said Martin Cothran, an analyst for the Family Foundation. "We felt that this was a common sense way to deal with it."

Critics countered that the policy violated the U.S. Department of Education's guidelines on civil rights for transgender students. They also said such decisions were best left to local school officials rather than the state legislature.

Henry, 16, said he has identified as a male for the past three years and that students felt they could get away with bullying him since school administrators didn't support his gender identity.

Henry said he was subject to constant harassment while using the girls' restroom before he was recently allowed to use facilities for boys, where he has experienced no problems. He argued that anyone not comfortable with him can use the single-stall restroom.

"I don't feel like I should have to change my life to accommodate their hatred," he said.

One supporter of the bill, Sen. Danny Carroll, R-Paducah, responded that lawmakers were not motivated by hatred but "sometimes there's just not a good answer to the things we have to decide."

Reporter Mike Wynn can be reached at (502) 875-5136. Follow him on Twitter at @MikeWynn_CJ.